I think we have a problem. 

We have a problem in our worship when it comes to emotions. And I don't know what you think I'm about to say, but hear me out for a little bit. 

In general, I don't think we understand how emotions should function in a worship service. And I want to open this up by describing two kinds of churches; the emotionally unhinged church, and the emotionally disconnected church. 

Emotionally “unhinged” church

It's the kind of church where you walk in and everything about it is trying to give you an experience. Everything from the lighting and the sound. To the feel and the flow of the worship service. To the admonitions of the worship leader, and the way the are leading people from stage to stage to stage. To the music and the way the music develops and moves throughout a service.

It all seems to be geared toward everybody having an emotional experience with God. And you look at that kind of church, or that kind of scenario, and you ask questions like, where's the substance? Where's the truth there? Where's the theology? The anchoring? Where's the biblical reflection there?

So that's one kind of church. The emotionally unhinged is just kind of all about emotions. And sort of in reaction to that, you have the other kind of church.

Emotionally “disconnected” church 

It's the kind of church where during the worship service, you hear a lot of good things about truth. There are a lot of good things from the Bible. Maybe the Bible's preached in an expository manner. And the worship songs are all super dense and theologically healthy. They sing a lot about God's attributes. Or about Jesus and his life and death and resurrection and all those wonderful things.

But when you look around in the congregation, you don't see a lot of emotional receptivity. You don't see a lot of resonance on people's faces. You don't see a lot of movement of the body. And when people walk out, you get the general sense that they've been assured of truth, but you kind of wonder whether they felt anything. 

Either the emotionally unhinged church says, all that truth stuff has left us without being able to feel God and know God in relationship. And then all the truth side of it reacts to the emotional side and says, all that stuff's manipulation and all that stuff is bad for us.
—Zac Hicks

Emotional poles

Now, those two kinds of churches represent poles on a spectrum. And I wonder if those polls aren't a little bit more real than we think they are, because we've had a tendency for one to react to the other.

Either the emotionally unhinged church says, all that truth stuff has left us without being able to feel God and know God in relationship. And then all the truth side of it reacts to the emotional side and says, all that stuff's manipulation and all that stuff is bad for us. And it's led people to believe things or think things about God that aren't true. Or even worse, think that they have a relationship with God, when all they've really had was an emotional experience that was "aided and abetted" by whoever made them feel something.

And so we're caught between these two poles. So what's true? What's right? Is it either/or?

But what does Jesus say?

When Jesus says (just as one illustration in scripture), "Love the Lord your God, with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your minds, and with all your strength", I hear Jesus saying, "I want it all". I want it all in all of your life. But when you gather for worship, I want it all there too. And if that's the case, that means we're on the hook for both our mind AND our emotions.

And that in a way, maybe it's not either/or. Maybe it's both/and.

Maybe a worship service should be a place where we have an intensely emotional encounter with the living God in relationship with him. But at the same time, it's filled with truth, with theology, with biblical depth and all those things.

What about you?

Do we need to choose between those things? Does the Bible encourage us to choose between those things?

So where are you at on this spectrum? Where's your church at? And is there any room for you to grow?